Eva Jiménez came here from the Dominican Republic in September 2001. She had “the same reasons as most people,” she says: “looking for better life opportunities, a chance to study and work, and to help my family as well.”

‘A GREAT NEED’ Posner.

She started out in factory jobs, then trained to become a teacher’s aide. She’s been doing that for seven years now at Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School in Providence. Her goal is to become a teacher.

Last September, after years of wishing for it, Jiménez was sworn in as a US citizen. The whole process took less than six months; she had no trouble with the test. And the one barrier she hadn’t been able to surmount, the nearly $1000 cost, she covered with the help of an unusual lender.

The Capital Good Fund, a small nonprofit started last year by Andy Posner and Mollie West, both Brown University students at the time, is part of a new breed of microlenders who are applying here concepts that have enjoyed some success in the Third World.

Posner, whose group won a mention from Bill Clinton during a recent appearance on ABC’s This Week, says he got his inspiration from Muhammad Yunus, who created the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for developing microcredit.

Posner, who was studying for a master’s degree in environmental studies, says he read a book by Yunus and thought, “This is absolutely amazing. I wonder if we could do something like this here in Providence.”

He did more research, and through the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown, connected with West, then a junior, who had similar interests. Over the summer of 2008, they met with community leaders to learn more about local needs; from there, “it just snowballed,” he says. “There was such a great need for this, and there was nobody doing this type of work in Rhode Island.”

In February 2009, they incorporated as the Capital Good Fund; in April 2009, they got their 501(c)(3) designation. They borrowed their startup funds from family and friends, and they shaped their loan products with input from focus groups and discussions with people in the community.

They started with two kinds of loans: business loans of $500 to $3000, and — because they’d heard so much about the prohibitive cost of applying for citizenship — $895 loans to cover the $695 application plus $200 for legal representation and guidance by the International Institute of Rhode Island.

The business loans are geared to people who need to cover basic startup costs such as getting a license and insurance, Posner says. Other costs covered: the purchase of a computer, building of a web site, and marketing.

Ducy Cornejo, a Bolivian immigrant, borrowed $3000 to start a green cleaning company. Carmen Mirabal got $3000 to help grow her handmade, organic vegetable soap, lotion, and soy candle business. Even small amounts “can do a whole lot” for a business, Posner says — and for more ambitious entrepreneurs, they can provide a modest start and a chance to build credit.

A casket gets some airtime Bert Harlow, woodworker and founder of the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Massachusetts, made his own casket a few years ago. But he figured the pine box should get some use before he was nailed into it.

Ex–porn star blogs her way sober This past week at the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), Jennie Ketcham taught her first class about something besides, er, “dick-sucking.”

Meme police I just woke up from some sort of bizarre dream. I was at MIT. There was a weirdo painting nudes of President Obama on a unicorn. Several adults were dressed like domestic animals.

Turning in that low-numbered plate for a pink one Low-numbered plates may be Valhalla for Rhode Island’s vainglorious. But they are hard to come by. So for the average driver looking for attention, “vanity” and “special category” plates are the way to go.

''Holy war'' holes I’m as liberal as the next guy, and I’ve been bothered for years by the distorted values and activities of the religious right in their pursuit of enforced conformity.

Escape artist recycles Houdini stunt at GreenFest 2010 A crowd of curious and slightly bewildered onlookers craned their necks towards the main stage at City Hall Plaza, eager to see what a middle-aged woman in a black Speedo planned to do with an armful of chains, a partially deflated kiddie pool, and a blue recycling bin.

Obama on the Vineyard The most powerful man in the world touched down last week on Martha's Vineyard's grass-stamped airport, and quietly set to work enjoying the pursuits late-summer vacations require.

Grimm connection? I usually enjoy Carolyn Clay’s theater reviews, but her recent piece on Company One’s inventive and imaginative Grimm contains an error.

Building a better world, by design What if architects across America agreed to make every building they design 50 percent more energy-efficient — and keep improving until, by 2030, they're at carbon-neutral?

Story-telling saves lives The past three weeks have been incredibly upsetting. Six young men have taken their lives due to the anti-gay bullying they were the focus of at their schools. None of these young men were connected — they did not go to the same schools, have the same socio-economic backgrounds, come from the same hometown.

SAVOR THESE URBAN (AND SUBURBAN) OASES | September 27, 2011 It's not a huge state, but Rhode Island, you may be realizing, is abuzz with activity. There's music, poetry, theater, gallery shows, social gatherings, and all sorts of events at the colleges.

REWRITING THE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM | March 30, 2011 Brown University president Ruth Simmons has made it hard to ignore the school's ties to slavery — and by extension, the ties of well-known Providence families.

GREENING THE KNOWLEDGE DISTRICT | March 09, 2011 Christopher Bull is on the engineering faculty at Brown University, but what he teaches is a vision. “We all bear some responsibility in the direction the world goes,” he says, “and we need to accept that responsibility and act on it.”

CATAPULTER WANTS YOU TO TRAVEL SMARTER | February 23, 2011 You’re headed to New York and you need to keep the trip as cheap as possible, but also want WiFi, so you can work. Or perhaps you’re due in Boston’s Back Bay area, ASAP, and you need the ride to be quick and direct, even if it costs a little extra.

AT RISD: 2X4S, TAPE, AND 'CO-HABITATION' | February 09, 2011 In photographs, it looks like a giant spider web. But up close, it's shiny and transparent under the golden light. It's big enough for a person to climb into and crawl through — or you can poke your head in from a hole underneath or on the sides.